AN ACT Relating to creating a pilot project to provide middle and junior high school students strategic and intentional academic support beyond the traditional school day to promote accountability and responsibility; adding new sections to chapter 43.330 RCW; creating a new section; and providing an expiration date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1.  The legislature acknowledges that all students do not learn in the same way or in the same amount of time. The legislature recognizes that students in middle and junior high schools would greatly benefit from additional academic support beyond the traditional school day to meet or exceed grade level learning standards and be ready for high school. The legislature finds that after-school learning labs provide a space within schools where students can learn accountability and responsibility through completing homework, monitoring classwork, passing state tests, and gaining mentorship as they work toward college and career readiness. The legislature acknowledges that after-school learning labs can also provide ongoing classes for parents, guardians, and students focused on teaching the skills needed to support academic success. The legislature intends to create a pilot project that establishes learning labs in middle and junior high schools to provide students the strategic and intentional support they need to achieve academically.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 43.330 RCW to read as follows:

The definitions in this section apply throughout sections 2 through 5 of this act unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(1) "After-school academic support entity" means an entity that is exempt from taxation under 26 U.S.C. Sec. 501(c)(3) of the federal internal revenue code of 1986, as amended, as of the effective date of this section, and that works with public middle or junior high schools to provide after-school academic support to students beyond the traditional school day within the schools.

(2) "Lab director" means a part-time independent contractor who may hold a teaching certificate. The lab director supervises and is responsible for a learning lab. The lab director plays an active role in supporting student achievement through grade monitoring, rewarding success, and creating an academic culture.

(3) "Learning lab" means an after-school program that provides additional academic support to public middle or junior high school students. A learning lab is housed in a room with computer access such as a library or computer room in a public middle or junior high school building and is led by a lab director.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3.  A new section is added to chapter 43.330 RCW to read as follows:

(1) A pilot project is established to create after-school learning labs in public middle and junior high schools. The pilot project must start at the beginning of the 2016-17 school year and end at the conclusion of the 2019-20 school year.

(2) The purpose of the pilot project is to provide public middle and junior high school students with an organized and consistent learning environment to help them meet or exceed grade level standards, obtain the skills to be successful high school students, and be well prepared for postsecondary education.

(3)(a) The department shall administer the pilot project. No more than four percent of the funding provided for the pilot project may be used by the department for administrative purposes.

(b) An after-school academic support entity shall implement the pilot project in a county located west of the crest of the Cascade mountains with a total population between seven hundred thousand and eight hundred thousand people to establish learning labs in that county's public middle and junior high schools.

(c) Public middle and junior high schools participating in the pilot project must agree to partner with the after-school academic support entity.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4.  A new section is added to chapter 43.330 RCW to read as follows:

(1) Each middle or junior high school participating in the pilot project shall have a learning lab that is open to students from after school until six o'clock p.m. each day that school is in session unless this time has to be adjusted for the school calendar.

(2) Each middle or junior high school participating in the pilot project shall have a lab director. The lab director must be contracted with district input, trained, and supported by the after-school academic support entity that implements the pilot project under section 3(3) of this act. This training must include the following topics:

(a) Involving parents and guardians;

(b) Monitoring grades and state test scores;

(c) Recognizing student academic improvement; and

(d) Recruiting and training learning lab volunteers.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5.  A new section is added to chapter 43.330 RCW to read as follows:

Starting August 1, 2017, and each August 1st thereafter, and in compliance with RCW 43.01.036, the department in collaboration with the after-school academic support entity that implements the pilot project under section 3(3) of this act, shall submit an annual progress report regarding the pilot project to the governor and the appropriate committees of the legislature. The final report shall be submitted by August 1, 2020, and shall include a recommendation on whether the pilot project should be continued, expanded, or discontinued.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 7.  Sections 1 through 5 of this act expire June 30, 2021.

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